Govt suspends 26 engineers in Rs 34-crore irrigation scam

TNN | May 13, 2016, 05.48 AM IST

Bengaluru: The timing appears all wrong for Siddaramaiah and the Congress, which is celebrating its third anniversary in office on Friday. Scams are tumbling out of its cupboard, and opposition leaders are going hammer and tongs at the government.On Thursday, minor irrigation minister Shivaraj Tangadagi told reporters he has suspended 26 engineers suspected to be involved in the Rs 34.35-crore scam in the development of minor irrigation tanks in Koppal and Kushtagi taluks, and will be soon writing to the CM, seeking a CID inquiry into it. He said the officials were suspended after he found violations in the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act in awarding 47 contracts.

Sources said the suspended officials have been charged with producing fake bills for dredging tanks. These employees allegedly produced the bills to claim money without executing work, sources said. While 17 employees belonged to the minor irrigation department, the others were on deputation from other departments.

This is the second successive embarrassment for the Congress government in the span of a fortnight. Rural development and panchayati raj minister HK Patil cancelled tenders for 46 new testing laboratories and ordered a CID probe into the matter while admitting to a drinking water testing laboratory scam in his department. While BJP opposition leader Ja gadish Shettar brought to light the scam in the RDPR department of 120 laboratories being awarded to a single person, JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy raised the fake bill scam in the minor irrigation department. Last month, Siddaramaiah came under fire for permitting a firm in which his son Dr Yathindra was a partner, to set up a lab and diagnostic facility at a government-run hospital, in alleged violation of the code of conduct for ministers.

Kumaraswamy alleged that CM Siddaramaiah had cleared Rs 3,500 crore worth of contracts under the PWD across the state, by dividing the projects into 126 piece works at a higher rate, without cabinet approval. “The projects have been handed over to contractors at 10-15% higher than permissible limits,“ he alleged. He said the government had received Rs 50 crore in kickbacks from a BDA official to appoint him next chairperson of the Karnataka Public Service Commission.`Ugrappa unsympathetic to women' Kumaraswamy accused VS Ugrappa, chairman of the expert committee on preventing sexual violence against women and children, of making derogatory statements against a sexual harass ment victim when she approached him to lodge a complaint. He said a woman employee of a healthcare firm in Mahadevapura had lodged a complaint of sexual harassment at the workplace before the labour department. “When she failed to get justice there, she approached Ugrappa for help only to be rebuked by him,'' he alleged.

JD(S)-BJP in BBMP?

The JD(S) has made it official that it plans to sever ties with the Congress for the next mayoral term at the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). JD(S) state president Kumaraswamy told reporters that discussions were on to join hands with the BJP for the new mayor. “We refused to support the BJP because there were scams and allegations of corruption during the party's rule. But things have changed,“ he said.